Droid User Says Says Verizon Double-Charged Him For Service Plans

By Phil VillarrealNovember 9, 2009

Victor, who picked up Verizon’s new iPhone competitor, the Droid, says Verizon billed him for $40 a month in redundant charges.

He writes:

Good morning, I came across a very VERY interesting method of sneaky business when pricing out my Verizon Droid this morning. Verizon is double charging for packages, and ripping customers out of $40/month for those that aren’t paying attention.

When purchasing the plans online, there are options for a Nationwide Select, and one called PDA/Smartphone Nationwide Email & Messaging. Nationwide Select has 450 minutes, unlimited texting and requires the $29.99 Smartphone Data Plan. This comes to a total of $89.99/month. Now when I select the PDA/Smartphone Nationwide Email & Messaging it comes with 450 minutes, unlimited texts, UNLIMITED WEB BROWSING, VZ Navigator, and VZMobile Email. Upon checkout even though I’ve selected a plan with Unlimited Web Browsing, it still charges the $29.99 plan. It’s taking an additional $40 for the same thing. Surely some people are going to buy that plan, not knowing that VZ navigator is useless when compared to Androids Turn By Turn, and the fact that VZ navigator doesn’t work for Android. ALSO that email is built in, there’s no reason to purchase the VZMobile Email application. What bothered me the most was that the plan SAYS unlimited Web browsing, yet upon checkout, it still hits the $29.99 data & email plan.

I called Verizon to get the answer as to why, and the gentleman stated the $29.99 Unlimited Data is for tethering. But there’s no option to remove it. And it’s packaged and labeled the same for both plans. So if the Nationwide Select has a $29.99 data package, and the PDA/Smartphone package has a $29.99 data package, THEY ARE DOUBLE CHARGING FEATURES THAT ARE EITHER BUILT IN THE PHONE, OR CHARGING FOR FEATURES THAT CUSTOMERS HAVE ALREADY CHOSEN IN THE PLAN SELECTION PAGE.

Please pass this on to the readers, they need to know that Verizon is scamming consumers out of an additional $40 month.

@colorfulRhyme: After 7 years of staying on my original (affordable!) plan with Verizon, they were going to make me switch to a new plan if I bought a new phone through them. So I did a little web searching, and now I’m on the TNT1200 plan with page plus. I’ve only had it for about 2 weeks now, but I love it so far. Page plus’ customer service is crappy, but at least it’s a change from Verizon’s crappy service!

@R3PUBLIC0N: I am not defending the “Unlimited 5GB” wording that all of the carriers give, but I saw an advertisement where the wording on the disclaimer was different from the usual, and finally made it clear in my mind how they can use the wording that they use.

Almost all of the carriers charge a set fee for up to 5GB of data usage (for the sake of this example, lets say that fee is $30 (+applicable taxes and fees)). So if you use 4.99999999999GB of data, they will charge you a flat $30. When you reach or exceed the 5GB “limit” they don’t turn off your data connection for the month (they just start charging you a few cents for each KB that you go over the 5GB limit). For all the carrier cares, you could use your wireless device to transfer terabytes of data, they will keep the data pipe open for you, thus, the data is truly unlimited, but if you want to avoid overages, you need to keep your usage below 5GB/month.

The key is in how they word the advertisement so that a 5GB limit is unlimited.

@Rachacha:
Keep in mind that $30 for 5GB is 0.0006 cents (not dollars, cents) per KB. So when you get to 5GB, they up the rate to 1 or 2 cents per KB. That may not sound like much, but this is a price increase of 166,767% (assuming 1 cent per KB, 333,433% for 2 cents). Put differently, your first $30 buys you 5GB. Your second $30 buys you 3MB. Your first 5GB costs $30. Your second 5GB costs $50,000.

So frankly, I think that most consumers would much rather they just cut off the pipe at that point. Really, I don’t think that any wording in the advertisements is sufficient if it’s short of “You get 5GB for your money and after that, we will mess you up bad. If you exceed it, you’re probably gonna start having to chose between paying your phone bill and paying your mortgage”.

Verizon is always scamming people, that’s why I downgraded from pocketpc to a cheap reliable phone. My pocketpc was wi-fi, and they stopped offering pocket pc’s with wi-fi and demanded we pay for data plan, which none of us wanted…

So guess what, your loss, could have kept me as a pocketpc customer if you werent’ trying to rip me off os much…

@crosenblum: This is my big complaint with the Droid. We don’t need or want any of these additional smart phone plan upgrades really. It has Wifi for mobile browsing & such. That is all we really need since we have wifi almost all the time. So I would be paying an extra $30 just for having a smart phone at Verizon even if I don’t actually DO anything over their network other than text and calls.

@crosenblum:
@CompyPaq:
What? No wifi? Tell that to my i760, my Samsung Saga, my coworkers’ HTC Touch, HTC Ozones, and Samsung Omnia. Hell, tell that to the Droid.
Now, they did start requiring a dataplan, that’s true. But they haven’t disabled wifi on all phones (maybe a couple back when they first did it).

when you add that plan to the cart they are also forcing you to select between:
Unlimited PDA/Smartphone Web Browsing and Email plus Corporate Access
$44.99/month
Unlimited PDA/Smartphone Web Browsing and Email
$29.99/month

@Mxx: The “Connect” plans are for dumbphones, not smartphones. You get either the basic or the select plan and then add a data package if you have a smartphone. It’s totally confusing, I know.

Still, it’s a rip. For DH and I to get a family plan with 450 minutes, no texting included and data would be $129/month. For that amount on Sprint, I can get 1500 minutes (which don’t matter because calls to ANY mobile phone are included), unlimited text, and data. Oh, and nights start at 7 on Sprint and not until 9 on Verizon. I really want a Droid but I hate to leave Sprint. Verizon nickels and dimes people too much.

Go to the VZW store, or Best Buy Mobile. They can do all kinds of things with their computers that the website can’t do.

I tried to buy a droid online and it refused to let me REMOVE my 14.99 vcast plan (that I actually didn’t know I had, long story) and only let me add the $29.99 smartphone bit.

When I went to the store, the rep explained that the online system is a little dumb and the $29.99 plan would actually cause the $14.99 plan to drop off, but of course there’s no indication of that.

It’s possible that the system automatically forces the selection of the add on, but the selection of the inclusive plan will cause it to drop off when the service is actually initiated. Check with the reps at your store if you’re having trouble…there are times when it’s appropriate to speak to an actual human who is standing in front of you.

Any time you see a Verizon plan boating unlimited data it is unlimited data for NON-smart phones. When you buy a smart phone you’re required to purchase a data plan in it. So that sweet looking Choice Family plan? Not so sweet.

I’ve still got to call them today to sort out everything they potentially tacked onto my plan when I purchased my droid. The stores are extraordinarily unhelpful and lead towards being very confusing.

It doesn’t help that uneducated employees try to sell your idiotic addons like the VZ Navigator.

I guess I’m missing the very obvious point of why not get the $39.99 plan and add the $29.99 data service, thus getting the correct plan?

my impression of the plan that people are looking at is it is unlimited data for dumbphones and therefore is not really applicable for a smartphone, and that is why the system is giving you the add on plan. You won’t be double charged if you don’t LET them doublecharge you by not understanding what you’re buying.

What’s funny is NOBODY has been able to root the Droid (or the Cliq, for that matter) so the option to tether your Android device, unless there’s something in 2.0 or on the Market that I’m unaware of, isn’t there.

Maybe if Motorola and Verizon trusted their customers and allowed them root on their Android devices, then maybe they can give the option to tether.

Wasn’t Verizon charging for the built in features of the Motorola Razr some years back? I remember reading articles of changing the firmware from Verizon to Alltel to avoid paying the Verion fee to use them. It seems this practice of disabling phone features is alive and well with Verizon.

As has been stated, the features the OP mentions are for dumbphones. The slightest bit of homework will tell you that all you need is the 450min plan plus the $29.95 data plan. Sure, maybe the web site shouldn’t even display those plan options when you are going with the Droid, but in my opinion, if you can’t figure out the proper plan to buy, you probably aren’t a person who needs a Droid in the first place.

This is not that hard folks…the 29.99 smartphone/email/data plan is what’s giving you your email and such. This gentleman added the tethering plan, which costs more. I don’t see double charging, I see a customer who misconfigured their account online.

This sounds very similar to a problem my DH and I had with our smartphones (not Droids) from Verizon last year. I forget the details, but it was something like this. I had to get on the phone and argue for a long time before I finally got charged only for the data plans I actually wanted and not something else.

the PDA/smartphone unlimited data package for 40 dollars is also available, but was not selected by default, at least when i purchased. vzw’s website offers me the option to add or delete this $40 dollar charge.

description of $30 dollar plan – Email and Web for Smartphone – no mention here or in additional terms and conditions of any data limits.

In the Canadian Broadband and Canadian Enhanced Services Rate and Coverage Areas, usage will be charged at a rate of $0.002 per KB or $2.05 per MB. In the Mexican Enhanced Services Rate and Coverage Area, usage will be charged at a rate of $0.005 per KB or $5.12 per MB. For more information on roaming in Canada and Mexico, visit verizonwireless.com/naroaming

The Email and Web for BlackBerry and Email and Web for Smartphone Features are designed for personal, consumer use and are not compatible with some Internet email service offerings or with email applications utilizing BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BlackBerry Desktop Software, Wireless Sync or Wireless Sync Enterprise Server or Goodâ„¢ Mobile Messaging. These features cannot be used to tether your device to laptops, personal computers or other devices for any purpose other than syncing of data; any other use is not permitted using these features. Service is only available in the National Enhanced Services and Extended National Enhanced Services Rate and Coverage Areas.

Additional Terms & Conditions apply

for the $40 plan – i’m reading the “connect to your pc” as tethering

Connect your mobile Smartphone to your PC with an unlimited data feature from Verizon Wireless. This feature offers unlimited data usage for access to corporate or personal POP3/IMAP email accounts and web browsing. Customers with access to an enterprise mail server will have the ability to synchronize e-mail, contacts, calendar, and tasks. Qualifying voice plan is required.

@pot_roast: There is logical reason for this. Verizon would be losing money by the boatload had they not. $200 ETF with a phone that costs $199 would allow the buyer eat the ETF, sell the phone $500 (retails for $600) and still turn a profit.

@dragonfire81: lol no. here is the long story.. what it was is the company that i do work for has a discount but its meager. (5 or 7% maybe) when i didn’t see it on my bill i politely asked to put it on. i forgot to mention the company i work for..but they didn’t mind and assigned me to a random company that happened to have a 20% discount. so i didn’t say anything!

@katstermonster: I’m with verizon (for a blackberry) and the tethering was free for a month, and then you have to cancel it. When I went to cancel it, I went online to myverizon, and chose the “change plan” option, and unchecked the tethering, and then everytime I saved/submitted, the page that loaded showed me my new and revised plan, which still included tethering. I tried multiple times, and decided that there was a bug in the online system, so that you can’t cancel tethering online, but must do it in a store. (so I went to a store) gah!